England’s most challenging ‘smart motorway’ to be developed yet opened last week on elevated stretches of carriageway carrying the M6 near Birmingham.

A 16km stretch of the motorway between junctions five and eight now features ‘dynamic’ control whereby the hard shoulders are opened to traffic during busy periods.

The M6 is the first smart motorway to feature raised emergency refuge areas on the elevated highway, between junctions five and six close to the Gravelly Hill interchange which is more commonly known as Spaghetti Junction.

“This scheme brings the latest technology to the M6, despite the difficult engineering challenges we faced with the motorway being elevated,” said Highways Agency project manager Rob Edwards.

Work on the £111M scheme involved installing 21 gantries, refurbishing three existing gantries and building six emergency refuge areas. More than 125km of cabling has been laid to connect up smart motorway technology and over 100,000m² of carriageway resurfaced.

“More than 160,000 road users stand to benefit each day now we can open the hard shoulder,” Mr Edwards said. He added that he expected the smart motorway to improve journey times, provide a boost to the local economy and increase safety.

During busy periods traffic officers will set overhead message signs to inform drivers they can use the hard shoulder as an extra lane and at what speed they can drive. The scheme will be further enhanced by the replacement of carriageway joints along the stretch of motorway, to be completed in early June.

This launch marks the completion of phase three of the Highways Agency’s 'BB3MM' project which has resulted in continuous smart motorway between junctions four and 10 of the M6.

(Photo: Highways Agency)

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